First Days in the Outback

This past weekend, I made the journey down south to ride louis for the weekend and get my first taste of the Outback for the year. I took my first juicy bite and...BANG! Big flavour :). The park staff have topped themselves yet again. Did switched the jump line up this year to be the center of the run with jib lines on the right and left which creates a really well flowing park that allows you to take laps all day, while still never hitting the same line. The jump line goes 35', 45', 50', 45' step up so they roll really well into each other and let you have a wicked line. There was so big tricks being thrown down when I was there but I was a little concerned about my ribs to push myself too much. We rode the Outback all morning on Fri and had a blast but wanted to mellow out in the Junkyard for a bit. I had a game of snow with a couple buddies and decided to go switch for everything. It ended up working out really well with me learning a bunch of switch tricks including switch 50 back three out, which I was extremely proud of. However, one of the scariest things I've done on a snowboard yet was included in the day: switch straight air. SOOOOO scary and sketchy. The next day Richie arrived and we session the Outback all day with him and Travis. Finally pushing myself to start spinning for the year and taking them to the big jumps. We got one or two worth while shots but didn't push to film too much. Watch for Los Dos Amigos pics sand stories!!

Weekend at Searchmont

Last weekend the fun and good time continued with a school trip to Searchmont in Sue Sault Marie. A friend and I organized a trip for 40 people to bus over to Searchmont and stay in their chalets and board for the weekend. It was a very successful trip with few injuries or snags. We got a night boarding pass, two nights in the chalets, and two days of boarding for an amazing price. The boarding wasn't the greatest with it being groomed icy runs with little to no park set-up but that ok. What was the greatest was shot gunning beers on the chairlift with 10 of your friends. Great times were had by all! And to top it off we had a 10 man hot tub, which we overpacked by double, available to us at the end of each day to get loaded in. Blast of a weekend. Thanks Laurentian!

O' Natural

The Chinese say this isn't the "Year of the Pig" but instead the "Year of Fun." Ok so maybe I'm making that up, but thats what this year is all about for me right now. No pressures filming or doing well in comps. Just going back to the good old days of just riding the hill with your friends, sharing laughs and a few pints, and ripping up natural little hits. I recently went to Calabogie Peaks, highest mountain in Ontario with 760 vertical feet (just a fun fact) with a few friends for a New Year's trip and had a blast. There was a very little park set-up that we didn't even touch. Just rode a fresh 15cm of snow and ripped around. Managed to find some cool little cliff drops, a couple tree bonks including a gnarly one with a sweet backdrop (would love to go back and get a pic), and some fresh tracks. Everyone had fun and the day was ended with live music, pitchers all round, all all our boards on the roof, unlike last year, GRRRR! (seriously, there have been tons of board thefts at this hill so lock 'em up)

New Years Stuff

Sorry folks, went away for a couple days but don't worry I'm back now. Just like every other year, I went up to my girl friends house on the Ottawa River for New Years and spent some time there relaxing before heading back to university. While she worked during the day, I was given the car and told to go ride her local hill. It's a pretty sweet little hill called Mt Martin with one T-bar. The couple guy I know who ride in the town, take care of the park themselves and even take time and money out of their own pockets to build boxes, rails, and jibs at the local high school. Had alot of fun riding the little hill for a couple days. Rustic little hill where you over look Quebec and can ride right onto the Ottawa River. Following both these days, I convinced some of the boarders there to help me hit this rail downtown. Had one and a half successful missions nailing three nice tricks. However, the finally time hitting it I bailed hard on a front board and got a rail in the gut potentially breaking my rib (still kills to breath like a week later).